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New Mexico’s Teacher Evaluation Trial Postponed Until October, w/Preliminary Injunction Still in Place

Last December in New Mexico, a Judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing consequences from being attached to the state’s teacher evaluation data as based on the state’s value-added model (VAM). More specifically, Judge David K. Thomson ruled that the state can proceed with “developing” and “improving” its teacher evaluation system, but the state is not to make any consequential decisions about New Mexico’s teachers using the data the state collects until the state (and/or others external to the state) can evidence to the court during another trial (which was set for April of 2016) that the system is reliable, valid, fair, uniform, and the like. See more details regarding Judge Thomson’s ruling in a previous post here: “Consequences Attached to VAMs Suspended Throughout New Mexico.” See more details about this specific lawsuit, sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) New Mexico and the Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF), in a previous post here: “Lawsuit in New Mexico Challenging [the] State’s Teacher Evaluation System.” This is one of the cases on which I am continuing to serve as an expert witness.

Yesterday, however, and given another state-level lawsuit that is also ongoing regarding the state’s teacher evaluation system, although this one is sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA), Judge Thomson (apparently along with Judge Francis Mathew) pushed both the AFT-NM/ATF and NEA trials back to October of 2016, yielding a six month delay for the AFT-NM/ATF hearing.

According to an article published this morning in the Santa Fe New Mexican, “To date, the [New Mexico] Public Education Department [PED] has been unsuccessful in its efforts to stop either suit or combine them;” hence, yesterday in court the state requested that the court postpone both hearings so that the state could introduce its new teacher evaluation system, on March 15 of 2016, along with its specifics and rules, as also based on the state’s new Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test data. Recall that the state’s Secretary of Education – Hanna “Skandera is new chair of PARCC test board.” It is also anticipated, however, that the state’s new system is to still “rely heavily” (i.e., 50% weight) on VAMs. See also a related post about “New Mexico Chang[ing] its Teacher Evaluation System, But Not Really.”

This window of time is also to allow for the public forums needed to review the state’s new system, but also to allow time for “the acrimony to be resolved without trials.” The preliminary injunction granted by Judge Thomson in December, though, still remains in place. See also a related article, also published this morning, in the Albuquerque Journal.

Stephanie Ly, president of the AFT-NM, said she is not happy with the trial being postponed. She called this a “stalling tactic” to give the [state] education department more time to compile student achievement data that the plaintiffs have been requesting. “We had no option but to agree because they are withholding data,” she said.

Ly and ATF President Ellen Bernstein also responded yesterday via a joint statement, pasted in full below:

March 7, 2016

Contact: John Dyrcz — 505-554-8679

“The Public Education Department and Secretary Skandera have once again willfully delayed the AFT NM/ATF lawsuit against the current value added model [VAM] evaluation system due to their purposeful refusal to reveal the data being used to evaluate our educators in New Mexico.

“In addition to this stall tactic, and during a status hearing this morning in the First District Court, lawyers for the PED revealed that new rules and regulations were to be unveiled on March 15 by the PED, and would ‘rely heavily’ on VAM as a method of evaluation for educators.

“New Mexico educators will not cease in our fight against the abusive policies of this administration. Allowing PED or districts to terminate employees based on VAM and student test scores is completely unacceptable, it is unacceptable to allow PED or districts to refuse licensure advancement based upon VAM scores, and it is unacceptable for PED or districts to place New Mexico educators on growth plans based on faulty data.

“High-performing education systems have policies in place which respect and support their educators and use evaluations not as punitive measures but as opportunities for improvement. Educators, unions, and administrators should oversee the evaluation process to ensure it is thorough and of high quality, as well as fair and reliable. Educators, unions, and administrators should be involved in developing, implementing and monitoring the system to ensure it reflects good teaching well, that it operates effectively, that it is tied to useful learning opportunities for teachers, and that it produces valid results.

“It is well known the PED is in a current state of crisis with several high-level staff members abandoning the Department, an on-going whistle-blower lawsuit…the failure to produce meaningful changes to education in New Mexico during her six years as Secretary, and Skandera’s constant changes to the rules is a desperate attempt to right a sinking ship,” said Ly and Bernstein.

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